Moon and Shadowhttps://moonandshadow.wordpress.com
Learning paganism, both light and shadowFri, 04 Aug 2017 05:19:01 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/8fb0927a170ae084691d16ab1a963f33?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngMoon and Shadowhttps://moonandshadow.wordpress.com
MoonAndShadowhttps://feedburner.google.comSpiritual Disconnecthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MoonAndShadow/~3/NMLu7OEGujA/
https://moonandshadow.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/spiritual-disconnect/#respondFri, 04 Aug 2017 05:18:07 +0000http://moonandshadow.wordpress.com/?p=1906Continue reading →]]>I was watching this video by Molly Roberts on healing the muse, I got to thinking on the topic of where a pagan feels disconnected to their spiritual path, not just their creative path, but unable to feel a connection to the God/dess or gods.

In her video, Molly talks about things ‘clogging’ the creative flow, filtering what we do, but also she covers how we can feed our creativity. She gives some great tips.

So imagine our spirituality and ask yourself what do you feed your spirituality? It sounds abstract, doesn’t it? But no, you can feed that part of yourself in similar ways as you would with creativity.

Causes of disconnect can vary depending on where you are in life. Sometimes it can be caused by depression, or a drastic change in your life. Try seeking through your feelings on this, to find when and how you lost the connection. Sometimes, you need only to find a way to reconnect.

Meditation– There are many forms of meditation with many benefits to both mind and body. Meditating also helps us connect with the world around us, as well as within us. Try daily meditation.

Divination– Fortunate telling provides answers of ourselves. Whether you use the tarot or runes, or you prefer the i ching or scrying, divination may provide a way to find what causes your disconnect.

Journaling. Journaling, in a way, is also like meditation. You can use a technique known as ‘freewriting’ to find answers to many questions, or just express yourself. Use journaling to explore feelings, vision, hopes, and dreams. This can often work through disconnects.

Ritual. Even if you’re not ‘feeling it’, try performing ritual anyway. I’ve done this before, going through the lighting of candles, the energy rising. It helped me reconnect. In fact, I felt a powerful connection when I sat still after ritual to wait for an answer, and it came.

Music This can inspire but also connect with the spiritual side of yourself. You can easily use this in combination with meditation, journaling, and ritual.

Art You don’t have to be good at art to feel creative. It is a form of spiritual expression. Try painting, scrapbooking, weaving/knitting, or any other form of art/craft.

Read Books You can read or even reread books that can help connect to your spirituality. When I first started out, most books on paganism was mostly about the stuff and spells, but you can find books on the spiritual depth of paganism. This will depend on your spiritual path, but I’ve enjoyed Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, as well as The The Spiral Dance by Starhawk, or Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham. But explore to see what books seem to work best.

Hike or camp, get outdoors. Try connecting with the earth, literally with the dirt and natural surroundings. Sometimes removing yourself from the technology, work, toxic personalities, or the mundane can cause disconnect.

What do have you tried, and what tips can you share on trying to reconnect with spirituality? Post in comments.

The full moon falls on the July 9, 2017, known as the Buck Moon. This is when the male deer have full sets of antlers for the upcoming mating season in the autumn. This is also called Thunder Moon, for the season rain and storms.

Some fun activities include gathering storm water for rituals. I often do this with leaving glass jars out in the rain, then labeling them to be used later. The water can be used in ritual, for washing altar tools, or use for scrying.

Water scrying. (video tutorial) This technique lets you use visualization for divination similar to crystal ball gazing.

Ice Spell- Use the storm water to use in an ice spell. Take some parchment or paper, write down what you wish to remove from your life. Ideally, think of a bad habit or something that blocks you from moving forward in your life. Meditate and infuse the paper with this thing you wish to remove. Set it in the water and freeze this overnight until it is solid. Use enough to cover the paper. The thicker the ice, the longer it will take to melt. You can use rocks to hold down another bowl on top to form a ‘bowl’ of ice too.

Once frozen, remove from the container and set a candle at the center. Place in the moon outside, on a warm night and say “Ancient Moon, empower me to grow, let the ice melt away that which blocks me. Let it water my intentions to grow and thrive”.

You can meditate as it melts, but don’t leave any candle unintended. If you wish, don’t use the candle, just leave the ice outside. Once melted, pour to the ground and bury the paper left over. Give thanks.

Some pagans might want antlers for their home, and the other day someone asked me why were they so difficult to find? For starters, many animals will chew and eat antlers as they are great for teeth grinding (squirrels, rabbits, porcupine, beaver) not to mention a good source of calcium for anything that likes to gnaw such as Bobcat or wolves. Even if you were to find them in the woods, you often find gnaw marks on them.

You can check local hunting supply stores to see if they have antlers. Hunters use them to lure in bucks by rattle them together, simulating bucks fighting. You can search online but read descriptions. Some listings are made of resin and not bone at all.

Another source, try pet stores. You’re not likely to find a full rack but they carry antlers for dog chews of various sizes.

In Wicca, you have the harvest god, sun god. But in many cultures, there are also moon gods as there are sun goddesses.

This led to my interest in various modern funeral practices you can do with the body.

Become a diamond or death bead. I teased my husband that I’d turn him into a diamond and tell people it’s the only jewelry he bought me. <evil laugh>.

Become a beautiful glass creation. This isn’t an urn because your ashes get swirled into glass. Although you can find some remarkable urns. Just look up ‘unusual urns’ to find the beautiful to the creepy.

Turn your remains into a tree. If you want to go organic, you can have your remains added to a tree to plant anywhere. Another options is having biodegradable coffin. This also requires your body to not be embalmed, so check local laws to see if that is allowed.

Tibetan Sky burial. It might sound gross, to have a body left to vultures to be eaten, but this practice is part of the Tibetan culture.

Viking burials (the truth). I’ve heard of people make a model ship and set that afire in a river or stream.

Donating your body to science. This options requires to you not only fill out formal paperwork, but you need to also be sure your family understand your wishes.

How would you like to be buried or cremated? I’ve informed my husband that cremation is fine, but I want organs donated if they are needed. Post in comments.